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He kept telling himself it wasn’t the end of the world. There were worse things that happened in life - people got sick, people lost their minds, people died. The boy he had a crush on kissing someone else was not an insurmountable crisis, even if it felt like his heart had been ripped out of his chest by a werewolf that proceeded to eat it while he watched. It was his own fault for following Derek from the school to the edge of the preserve but he had a birthday present for him and didn’t want to miss giving it to him since it was the last day of school before Christmas Break and his birthday was on Christmas Eve.
He stared down at the hastily wrapped gift in his hand. He’d spent two weeks knitting the hat out of soft green yarn he’d found in a bargain bin at the store. He’d picked it up because it reminded him of Derek’s eyes and then when he’d seen the hat looms and simple patterns, he came up with the idea to make him a gift.
They were friends. Had been since they were five and seven years old and Stiles’ mother had brought him to the park to play and the Whittemore kid had shoved him off the top of the slide. He probably would’ve broken his arm, but Derek had caught him and then shoved Jackson when he got to the bottom of the slide, growling at him and making him run away. Derek said he’d wet his pants too but Stiles hadn’t seen it.
He’d been in love since and followed Derek around like a lost puppy. He knew it and everyone teased him about it. Everyone except Derek who included Stiles in everything he did.
Everything except secret meetings with the substitute teacher at the high school. The woman he was kissing as Stiles’ entire life fell apart around him. He glared at the back of her blonde head and wished for all sorts of evil to befall the woman when he saw Derek push away from her, his face pale and voice frantic. The woman shrugged her shoulders and reached for Derek again but he took a step away from her, hands held out in front of himself.
The woman grabbed Derek’s hands and Stiles narrowed his eyes at the scene in front of him, his brain screaming to call his dad the sheriff because there was some bad touching going on and even if Derek was sixteen years old and the woman was young for a teacher, she was still an adult. Of course, instead of calling his dad, he ran forward, shouting Derek’s name and tripping over his own feet and landing at theirs.
“Stiles!” Derek exclaimed, grabbing him by the arm and pulling him to his feet. He ran his hands over his arms and brushed off the stray bits of dead leaves that stuck to his jacket and jeans. “Are you alright?”
“Who are you?” the teacher demanded and Stiles and Derek turned to glare at her.
“Stiles Stilinski,” Derek said, gripping his shoulder gently and smiling tightly up at her. “The sheriff’s son. Stiles, this is Ms. Argent. She’s substituting for my chemistry class.”
He knew he should say it was nice to meet her, but couldn’t bring himself to care enough to lie so he just turned to Derek and thrust the gift at him. “Um..this is for you. Happy birthday,” he said.
Derek grinned. “Thanks.” He gripped the gift to his chest before turning to Ms. Argent. “I have to take him home. I bet he rode his bike out here and it’ll be dark before he can make it home.”
“He’s a big boy,” she said, looking him over from head to toe and making Stiles feel like he’d left his clothing back at school. “I’m sure he can get home by himself.” She reached for Derek’s hand but he shook her off and placed it on the small of Stiles’ back and pushed him away from her towards the edge of the woods.
When they were far enough away that she couldn’t hear them, Derek whispered. “Hurry up before she follows us.”
“What the hell was that about?” Stiles asked. “Is she, like, your girlfriend?”
Derek snorted. “No. She followed me out here,” he said. “I was just going to go for a run and she showed up and…” he shuddered. “I’m not sure what would have happened had you not shown up.” He wrapped his arm around Stiles’ shoulders and hugged him to his side. “You saved me.”
Stiles grinned up at him and bumped his head into Derek’s gently. “Just returning the favor.” He laughed as Derek rubbed his hand playfully over his buzzed hair. Maybe Derek didn’t love him like Stiles loved Derek, but he was still his best friend and they were always going to save each other.